The mountain travel industry has survived and thrived for decades in the United States. However, the industry is facing a new set of challenges in an increasingly complex world. How will it continue to thrive? Cultivating new leaders is critical to the long-term viability of the industry. Who will replace the trailblazers who founded this industry? How do we leverage our culture, passion and heritage to attract the talent to become the next trailblazers?
These are among the many thought-provoking topics mountain travel professionals will discuss at this year’s Mountain Travel Symposium, the largest and longest running annual gathering of mountain travel professionals in the world. From March 26 to April 1, 2017, more than 1,100 representatives from 35-plus countries will gather in Banff and Lake Louise to participate in innovative thought leadership sessions with renowned speakers, establish relationships and build business.
The two-day Forum, which takes place on Wednesday and Thursday, March 29 and March 30, is the premier thought leadership program in the mountain travel industry. Highlights include a day and a half of general sessions by nationally known keynote speakers, followed by interactive group workshops in tracks that focus on sales, marketing and destinations.
During the Forum general sessions, attendees will have the chance to explore the future of the industry with innovative sessions led by top-notch industry experts. For example, Travel Industry Trends…What’s New…What’s Next features Melissa Maher, Expedia’s Senior Vice President, Global Partner Group, in a one-on-one interview with Douglas Quinby, Phocuswright’s Vice President Research. The Future Is Now, a panel session moderated by Erik Blachford, Venture Partner at Technology Crossover Ventures, will take a look at such trends as machine based learning, chat bots, virtual reality, augmented reality and more with a panel of experts that includes Rob Torres, Managing Director, Travel of Google; Mike Slone, Chief Experience Officer of Travelaer; Peng Shao, Founder, CEO of GooglePal; and Christine Warner, Head of Travel for Facebook. And the ever-popular MTS Talks, inspired by TED Talks, will be centered around the concept of Growth this year, with a number of presenters offering various perspectives. Other general sessions promise inspiration, new ways of looking at issues, travel trends and more.
After the general sessions, breakout sessions dive deep into specific topics that are top of mind for Forum attendees, ranging from Revving Up Your Profits to How to Turn First Timers into Destination Travelers and insights into crucial data in Traversing the Skier’s Path.
For an intimate, interactive session, executives turn to Destinations@MTS, an executive-level event for those focused on destination and resort marketing growth, trends and best practices. With relevant content crowd-sourced from feedback from previous attendees, this year’s sessions include presentations followed by table talk on timely topics such as Digital Marketing Update, Visual Experiences, Resorts & DMOs Working Together and Just the Facts, a roundup of the most important research and data on destination travel marketing.
The weeklong event — connecting the most influential domestic and international tour operators worldwide with mountain resort representatives and destination marketing organizations — allows participants to achieve a year’s worth of business in just a few days with the highly successful Exchanges, including the Trade Exchange, Group Exchange and Meetings Exchange. Come back next week for more details on these exchanges, or check out Mountain Travel Symposium here.
Ready to blaze your way to the future of the mountain travel industry? Register now.
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The Details
Mountain Travel Symposiumwww.mtntrvl.com
